Some of the special children we helped in 2010

A Touch Screen Laptop to help Henry

Henry has a rare condition called bilateral optic nerve dysplasia, meaning that Henry is severely visually impaired, he also needs lots of medication to replace all the hormones that his body does not produce and is unable to walk so uses a wheelchair to get around. Henry would love to be able to read and do homework, unfortunately the cctv unit Henry uses at school is not portable so this is not possible.

Wipe Away Those Tears has provided Henry with a Touch Screen Laptop and the attachments necessary for him, and we have already heard from Henry’s mum that he was able to read to her from his school reading book for the very first time.

We hope that Henry has many happy hours reading his books on his new laptop.

A “Cheetah” for Katie

Katie is almost 4 years old and was born with a rare genetic condition called SEDc (spondeloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita). This condition affects Katie’s bone growth and causes muscle weakness. Katie is a very happy and brave little girl who is always smiling but in early 2009 it became apparent that Katie needed major spinal surgery. This was carried out, and although successful Katie subsequently suffered a blood clot in her spinal chord and as a result is paralysed from diaphragm level down.

This was a devastating blow to Katie and her whole family as she had previously been able to crawl and stand and was learning to walk. Katie would love to be able to interact with other children but is unable to do this in the wheelchair she currently has, it is too heavy for Katie to manipulate and as she is very small, only 63cm long, she has to sit with her legs sticking out as the chair does not offer her a short enough seat depth. Katie’s parents found the ideal wheelchair for Katie, a “Cheetah”, and Katie trialled the chair and found it to be excellent. She can sit with her legs down, propel it well and it has the added bonus of being able to recline if Katie gets sleepy.

Wipe Away Those Tears have purchased this wheelchair for Katie and we think she looks so lovely getting around in it.

A left handed guitar for Joshua

This is Joshua who is 8 years old. When Joshua was 4 years old he was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism. As he enjoys music and dancing, this often calms him down. Joshua’s mum, Rachel, booked him some guitar lessons as she had heard that this could be very therapeutic and could help Joshua channel the frustrations that he has and the anger that he often expresses as a result. It could also help with his co-ordination.

Although Joshua’s mum had paid the fees associated with the guitar lessons she had not accounted for the cost of a guitar, and as Joshua is left handed a left handed guitar was called for. Once again Wipe Away Those Tears supplied the goods and made another little boy very happy.

Madi Haynes gets a Trike and a new Car Seat

This is the request that we received from the Haynes family:-

Hi my name is Madison (Madi) to my friends. Due to complications at birth I have been left severely brain damaged. My injury is more commonly known as Cerebral Palsy. I have quadriplegic athetoid dystonic cerebral palsy.

The quadriplegic bit means it affects my arms and legs (well really my whole body). The athetoid bit means I have thousands of tiny (and sometimes rather large) unwanted movements – try performing every task you do whilst jogging – that is life for me with my athetoid movements. The dystonic bit means I can be very floppy, to stiff as a board in fractions of a second.

Luckily or unluckily for me my cognitive ability is not totally affected, I am a bright little girl just in a body that doesn’t work so well. I attend Girls Brigade on a Wednesday and I go to a main stream school. I am learning to talk via a special computer and also to drive my electric wheelchair. This however can be very frustrating; as I can not walk, stand, sit, roll or talk. Mummy and Daddy help me stay included as much as possible but as I now get heavier it is harder for them to help me without the help of equipment. I now get to travel in a special car in my wheel chair but sometimes its nice to travel in Daddy’s car (just like my brother and sister) but I have outgrown my regular car seat and now need a specially adapted one. I have also just outgrown my trike, I used to sit in this and pedal, well Mummy or Daddy pulled me whilst my legs go round, but its a great feeling and I get to do something the same as my brother and sister and even better it is good for me… it gives my hips movement that they so badly need.

I love life, just need a little more help than alot of 7 year olds to get access to it. Thank you for the taking the time to read my note.

Best wishes Madi Haynes

How could we refuse!!!!!

This gorgeous little boy is Tommy and here is a letter we received from his mum, Lisa:

I wondered if you could help. I live in Harold Hill and I have a 11 week old son called Tommy he was born 4 weeks premature and was diagnosed with Down Syndrome when I was pregnant. Since Tommy has been born he has had a number of problems. I spent most of our time in Queens hospital due to Tommy being unable to tolerate feeds and he lost 15% of his birth weight. Tommy was admitted to hospital and was put on an IV drip to build up his weight. He was eventually discharged and I had to take him back for a scan on his heart due to his breathing and how bad his tug was. The hospital discovered that Tommy had an 8mm hole in his heart which is large for a 5lb baby. Also Tommy’s patent ductous arterious was still open the hospital were worried that Tommy could go in to heart failure due to too much blood going to his lungs so Tommy was put on anti-heart failure diaretics.

We are waiting for an appointment from GOSH to see if Tommy needs heart surgery as his tug is still the same and his hole has not closed at all.

Tommy is now being nasal gastric tube fed as he was still not tolerating feeds orally. We are waiting for Tommy to put on weight so he can have his op to have his PDA fixed.

Tommy is a gorgeous boy who brings us so much joy, but I feel he attends hospitals so much and I just want to bring him joy instead of always being pulled about. He loves the sensory room in the hospital and First Step nursery and I was love to get him a bubble tube for his room as this always relaxes him especially when he is being tube fed. So I was wondering if you could help fund this for us.

I understand if you cannot help as there are so many families, so I would like to say Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Many Thanks Lisa

Bubble Tube supplied with love from Wipe Away Those Tears.

Lucy can now sleep in comfort

Lucy is 17 years old and suffers from Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy and is tube fed. She is unable to walk, talk, sit, stand or eat but despite all this she is a wonderfully alert, intelligent and responsive young lady.

Lucy’s mum wrote in telling us that she was trying to raise money to purchase a profiling bed with cot sides for Lucy as she suffers from muscle contractures and the early stages of scoliosis (curvature of the spine). She also slips off her pillows during the night and needs repositioning throughout the night. This bed is a vital piece of equipment for Lucy’s safety and therapeutic comfort.

Wipe Away Those Tears hope that Lucy sleeps soundly and comfortably in the new bed we have provided for her.